Opposing expanded development on barrier beach.

• Position: Massachusetts

CLF is pressing the state to curb potentially damaging development on Plum Island, an 8-mile barrier beach island near the New Hampshire border. The Parker River National Wildlife Refuge occupies the southern three-fourths of the Island. The northern part of the Island is a jumble of small and large, old and new residences, historically served by on-site water and sewage systems.

In 2005, the City of Newburyport and Town of Newbury extended public water and sewer lines to Plum Island. CLF unsuccessfully opposed this project, arguing that installing public water and sewer lines to the Island would induce new residential development on the fragile barrier beach and further threaten its integrity. Barrier beaches absorb ocean storms and excessive development impairs their ability to do so. Hurricane Katrina graphically illustrates the threat caused by loss of these coastal barriers.

To receive beneficial state financing of the...